After years of refusing to introduce provincial legislation requiring ATV riders to wear helmets, the Alberta government is considering making helmets mandatory for off-highway vehicle users.

“We’re connecting with traffic safety stakeholders right now to get their opinion on what potential legislation for OHV (off-highway vehicle) helmets could look like, what should be included if we were to introduce something,” said Alison Burns, spokesperson for Alberta Transportation.

“There is a conversation happening.”

Burns said one option the government is exploring is to align the rules for off-highway vehicles with the current rules for bicycles, meaning that a law could require all off-highway vehicle operators and passengers under the age of 18 to wear a helmet while on public land.

But stakeholders say that isn’t enough, and they plan to push for provincial legislation that requires off-highway vehicle users of all ages to protect their heads.

“More comprehensive helmet legislation is in order,” said Don Voaklander, director of the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research.

“It’s not just an under-18 issue.”

Alberta’s Traffic Safety Act defines an off-highway vehicle as any motorized mode of transportation built for cross-country travel on land, water, snow, ice or marsh, including ATVs, snowmobiles and minibikes.

There are an average of 14 ATV-related deaths in Alberta every year, and of those who died while riding an ATV, 68 per cent were not wearing a helmet, according to data from the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research.

“An average of 14 is a lot of deaths, and that’s not including the 700 or 800 hospitalizations and several thousand emergency department visits related to ATVs,” said Voaklander.

“(Helmet legislation) is a long time coming.”

Voaklander said Alberta has more ATVs per capita than anywhere else in the country, yet Alberta remains the only jurisdiction in Canada that doesn’t have ATV helmet legislation. “We’re always the last to get on board with these safety issues and it saddens me,” he said.

ATV helmet legislation across Canada varies, with Saskatchewan exempting users from donning helmets and eye protection on land owned by an immediate family member, while other provinces mandate ATV drivers complete a safety course and wear a helmet no matter where they are riding.

Municipalities in Alberta currently have the authority to create their own off-highway vehicle helmet bylaws.

This isn’t the first time a provincial ATV helmet law has been discussed by Alberta officials.

In 2008, the Alberta government considered pursuing mandatory helmet legislation, but the bill never saw the inside of the legislature.

In 2012, following a rash of ATV deaths, then-transportation minister Ric McIver said the government had no plans to introduce mandatory helmet legislation. McIver said even if a law was introduced, it would be difficult to enforce. Days later, McIver said he would look at the evidence.

Burns said “a lot has changed” since 2012, including a new transportation minister.

“I don’t know what the turning point would be,” she said. “It’s something that is always on the radar.”

But Liberal MLA David Swann doesn’t buy it.

“I’m not at all convinced,” he said. “That’s bunk that they’re looking into it. They’ve been looking into it for at least a decade.”

Just days after his 24-year-old nephew was killed while riding an ATV without a helmet near Bragg Creek in 2012, Swann pleaded for a change in ATV helmet laws and he continues to advocate for a mandatory helmet law.

“How much is a life worth?” Swann asked.

“Helmets are the best way we know to reduce head injury, disability and death, and this government has just dragged its feet terribly on this.”

Transportation Minister Wayne Drysdale was unavailable for comment.

David Coutts, a spokesman for the Alberta Off-Highway Vehicle Association, called the move to examine helmet legislation a positive step and said the group has advocated for years for mandatory helmet rules for all off-highway vehicle users.

“It’s about safety, it’s about having respect for yourself, having respect for your loved ones that you want to recreate with and ride with,” Coutts said.

Jo-Anne Farquhar, a spokeswoman with the Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council, said the group supports mandatory helmet legislation and believes all riders should wear helmets.

“Nobody goes out there planning to fall off their vehicle or have a tip over. Helmets are just one more way of helping you prevent injury,” she said.

1 to 86 years — age range of those killed in ATV-related accidents in Alberta

20 to 34 years — age range with the highest number of ATV-related deaths in Alberta

68 — percentage of drivers who died while riding an ATV in Alberta who were not wearing a helmet

699 — ATV-related hospital admissions in Alberta in 2010

5,283 — ATV-related emergency department visits in Alberta in 2010

— Statistics are from the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research

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